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Well, news about The Astonishing of course, but we couldn't resist including a clever (to us) headline -- call it our Monday Madness. Nevertheless, Dream Theater's recent epic release The Astonishing will live a second life as a novel. From DT, author Peter Orullian and the publisher - Vault Books - here is the descriptive blurb:

"The Astonishing, the novel, builds on the story rendered in The Astonishing, the ground-breaking concept album by the kings of progressive metal, Dream Theater. The novel adds new plot lines and intrigue, additional characters and motivations, as well as explanations and ideas not explored on the album. ​It also has several exclusives [...].

"Writer of The Astonishing, the novel, Peter Orullian spent many long sessions in person and by phone with guitarist, song-writer, and producer of The Astonishing, John Petrucci. Through those conversations he gathered a depth of understanding into Petrucci's story and vision. Orullian then began to ideate on ways to extrapolate the core story, build in rationale for key pieces of the world, and introduce story elements to further expand and deepen the story that has become the novel.

About the book:

"In a not so distant future, our world has returned to the ugliness of feudalism. Only this time, those in power control the servant class with the very thing that once inspired men to rise up and take back their lives—music. But it is not the music of old. That music is forgotten. No, this new music is engineered entirely by machines. This music suppresses that part of humanity which might be inspired. This music suppresses hope.

"But what is old will be made new again." Visit the The Astonishing, the book's page for more info and full edition details, but it will include a "[m]ap of the world of The Astonishing," plus "[o]riginal full-color interior art depicting key scenes in the story, including some scenes not represented in the album," and much more, all in on 60# acid-free paper, leather-bound, Smyth sewn, and limited to 2500 copies.

If Peter Orullian's name sounds familiar, either you've read his other literary works (one novel and much short-fiction) or ... well, for me, I remembered reviewing something musical he released many years ago - his collaboration with Jeffrey Ryan Smoots, Inner Resonance, and their lone CD (to date) Solar Voices. Well, in full disclosure, the band and title was just on the edge of my memory, so I had to refresh it. You can read my view here.

The Astonishing, the novel, will be released in Spring 2017 and will retail for $75.00. [The cover art above is not the final art, according to Vault Book's website. -ed.]

From The Editor

September 2, 2018: Update: Hello ProgressiveWorld.net readers. If you noticed our pages were blank earlier today (and earlier than today)... We are (mostly) back! (Host changed servers and left some of our content behind). The key sections - reviews, news are restored; releases and festivals will be too soon hopefully.